Auto Portability - Recent Developments

Auto portability has become a leading retirement savings public policy initiative due to its proven ability to preserve small-balance defined contribution accounts. Now, research is indicating that, when it comes to women, auto portability could deliver even greater benefits by making it easier for women participants to preserve their 401(k) savings and help to put them on par with men to achieve financial wellness.

In his latest article in Employee Benefit News, RCH Founder, President & CEO Spencer Williams urges plan sponsors to adopt two critical, but often overlooked priorities for defined contribution plans: reducing cashout leakage and enabling auto portability. Today, plan-to-plan portability is both time-consuming and expensive, resulting in a large number of stranded accounts and cashout leakage, particularly for small accounts. Citing EBRI and other research, Williams demonstrates that enabling seamless plan-to-plan portability through auto portability could dramatically improve participant outcomes, enhance financial wellness and even reduce the incidence of missing participants.

Covering the WISER forum "The Millennial Perspective: An Intergenerational Discussion on Retirement Savings", NAPA Net's Ted Godbout includes reporting on RCH EVP Tom Johnson, who wowed the WISER crowd with 401(k) cashout leakage and portability statistics. Citing data from the GAO, the EBRI Retirement Security Projection Model (RSPM) and other sources, Johnson made the point that Millennials, including gig workers, will stand to benefit greatly from retirement savings portability solutions, including auto portability.

In his weekly Anecdotal Evidence column entitled "How Much Retooling Does the 401(k) Need?", Retirement Income Journal publisher Kerry Pechter covers two important weekly events -- the ERISA Advisory Council meeting and the EBRI webinar on their Retirement Security Projection Model (RSPM). For the EBRI event, Pechter notes that auto portability is a key public policy initiative in the "EBRI super model" and cites auto portability's benefits as reducing "retirement shortages for ages 35-39 by between 17% and 23%."

As the 401(k) turns 40 years old, the Wall Street Journal’s
Anne Tergesen examines five ways that the 401(k) could do a better job of
creating retirement security, including reducing 401(k) leakage. To
address the 401(k) leakage problem, Tergesen describes Retirement
Clearinghouse’s ongoing efforts to implement auto portability, which
automatically consolidates small balance accounts and moves retirement savings
forward into a new employer’s 401(k) plan. Tergesen reports that RCH’s
CEO Spencer Williams “expects to receive the green light” from the Department
of Labor “as soon as this summer.”

PLANSPONSOR’s Rebecca Moore examines the Center for Retirement Research’s (CRR) report “An Analysis of Retirement Models to Improve Portability and Coverage,” presented to the Department of Labor in February 2018. One of the report’s key recommendations includes the establishment of a clearinghouse to automatically move small balances forward, a framework now widely-known as auto portability.

Plan sponsors know that an explosion of small-balance 401(k) accounts held by terminated participants can create problems, but few sponsors are clear on the underlying causes, and fewer still understand how they can utilize consolidation programs to solve the problem. In his 6/6/18 article in BenefitsPRO, RCH’s Tom Hawkins offers plan sponsors a framework to understand and address the small account problem, applying proven solutions that promote account consolidation.

NAPA Net's Ted Godbout covers the May 22nd WISER roundtable, where RCH EVP Tom Johnson revealed new statistics highlighting the cashout problem for women with small 401(k) balances. Godbout goes on to examine the "portability solution" -- where auto portability could preserve the savings of 1 million women, on an annual basis, and 42 million women over a generation.

Individuals should consult their tax advisers or legal counsel for advice and information concerning their particular situation. Retirement Clearinghouse does not give legal, investment, or tax advice. IRA account fees and product information provided by Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC is subject to change without notice at the discretion of the IRA Provider. Securities are offered through RCH Securities, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC and a member of FINRA (www.finra.org). RCH Shareholder Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC and a registered transfer agent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.